Make it vague so that what he actually meant was $1000 credit towards what she owes him.

I do cash for keys and set up the money transfer dependant on the tenant doing their part, as put down in our contract and also I paying the money if the tenant moves out leaving the place in so so condition. Not trashed, damaged or vandalized.

Often I'll place the money in an escrow account and have a "third" party inspect and release the funds.

It is far better and cheaper to pay someone off who can only cause me more grief and aggravation....

Here in Los Angeles you have to pay someone who's over 62 or had dependant children a relocation fee around $20,000. So a problem tenant plays games only to try to get the MONEY! Instead I post a 24 hour notice and document the condition of the rental every month or so. When I find the tenant destroying the rental, I sink my attorney on them.

Plenty, j see this as a sign of the times. This is NOTHING compared to some things that will go down over the next few months.

Next week's Mass Landlord's Zoom meeting is on this very topic.

Cambridge & Statewide Virtual Meeting Tues Oct 20: Cash for Keys Alternative to Eviction

This event will teach attendees the legal alternative to filing for eviction and waiting for a court hearing: the "cash for keys" mutual release.

A variety of factors make "cash for keys" arrangements desirable from an owner/manager point of view:

Rent arrears for many of us are into the tens of thousands of dollars;

The state legislature won't enact a housing guarantee because reasons;

The Governor's administration isn't setting aside enough money to pay for the arrears;

The judicial branch is working hard but ultimately can only do so much with a nine month backlog.

Is it time to cut your losses and move on? This presentation will review:

Have cash for keys been allowed under the MA eviction moratorium? (Yes, we'll review the case law)

What does a properly structured cash for keys agreement look like?

What is best practice for going forward given the state of the Massachusetts and CDC moratoriums.

What is the benefit of attempting a cash for keys mediated move-out, compared to waiting for a court date.

What is the likelihood of success of trying to game the system by filing a no-fault, no cause eviction when rent arrears are owed? (Hint: not good.)

Ken very interesting. In my 35 years I've done this one time and it was 1000.00 In January 2020 after taking a house back through foreclosure the person we foreclosed on had to be evicted. They wouldn't leave although they insisted they were.

When the sheriff showed up with the eviction papers-- one court paper wasn't signed and he wouldn't execute the warrant. We set a time the next day when he would return. While we were in the front yard the tenant-- aka previous owner came out.

Since we had sold the property to them we knew their history pretty well. This is what I told them in front of the Sheriff.

My offer is 1000.00 cash tomorrow-- you hand me the keys to a broom cleaned house-- sign this document that you surrender the home to us voluntarily. The sheriff said this to them-- don't make me come back here tomorrow for a set out with this offer MADE to you.

I don't have a crystal ball by any means-- but can you imagine had I waited just 30 days longer? C-19??? My Oh My was I lucky!

Its almost hard to imagine any tenant getting free rent for many more months in the near future would trade months and months of free rent for $1,000.

Normally, I refuse to give cash for keys. Make me mad enough that I have to take you to court and I'm out for blood, not offering you money.

But if I were in one of the states where you can't evict, I'd be thinking that cash for keys beats being stuck with a deadbeat until sometime next spring.

some thinking is very narrow on this. Lost 5 months of PITI from tenant-- 4K--- 1 month of rent---- legal bill of 500.00 -- set out crew 850.00. Had she been in there for C-19 it would have been 13 months already with no pay. She was gone for Feb. Turned and upped rent to 1075.00 Starting in March. So be stuck or pay out 1K? no brainer.

I thought that was not allowed under the eviction moratorium.

Ken,

I agree that FREIND would no longer be my friend. I don’t want his attitude to rub off on me or risk someone associating him with me.

Our LL assoc would also drop him as a member.

I have offered CFK a few times, only one responded. $300. I think the key is to HELP them move out. They have no money to move out so offering cash AFTER move out is too late.

I offered to pay their new deposit directly to the LL and my crew and trailer for a few hours to haul in town.

I add the CFKs and labor to their bill.

PS

It is a problem to solve.

I will pay (charge them) the first month’s rent on a storage unit to solve the “no place for my stuff” problem.

The labor and trailer solves the “my car is too small” and “bad back” problems.

In normal times most people are somewhat agreeable if we help them.